What a great trip. We flew from San Francisco to San Salvador, El Salvador, and
then to San Jose, Costa Rica. Then we found a small SUV to rent for $50 per day,
and we set out for La Fortuna, with a view of Volcano Arenal, which is active
and gives a nice light show at night. Lava spews forth as we sip wine at an
outdoor patio restaurant.

From La Fortuna, we travelled on less and less paved roads with the last 20 km
on some of the roughest dirt roads I've ever driven on. Rocks and boulders and
potholes, making the drive to Monteverde take 5 hours, made us appreciate the 
great-by-comparison West Street in Hollister.

We had some of the best pizza ever in Santa Elena, while rain poured outside.
We eventually decided that we should find a hotel, and settled on Hotel Belmar
in Monteverde and were not disappointed. $64 per night got us a room with a 
spectacular view of the cloud forest in the nice quiet eco-lodge with all the 
amenities, including an outdoor jacuzzi and comfortable lobby to hang out in 
and play scrabble while sipping yerba mate.

Monteverde is simply an amazing place, and words can't do justice. It rained
like crazy, there are no sidewalks, and we walked to dinner every night, 
arriving with muddy feet to beautiful restaurants with fine wines and excellent
cuisine. The birds woke us up at 5am each day but then let us sleep from 6 to 8,
and then we'd spend the day zip-touring the canopy, perusing the local art
galleries, walking through the cloud forest, touring the coffee plantations,
and deciding that we could really live here.

From there we drove down to the Pacific coast to Tamarindo, a laid-back surfing,
boating and resort community where we were offered on more than one occasion to
purchase some "weed", which we of course politely declined but admit to being
tempted to. One day we did some SCUBA diving, other days we basically just 
hung out and relaxed by the beach.

Twelve days passed like that. Here are some pictures which I'll be reorganizing
into the narrative:

© 2005 Paul McNett       [/Personal/CostaRica2005] permanent link